Everywhere you turn today, there are technological marvels running the show, from the TV in your living room equipped with the sound system that reverberates from every corner of the room and receives the signal from a satellite orbiting thousands of miles above the earth to the check-out counter at the supermarket to the car you drove to get there. And then there's the staggering number of computerized machines that assist with work and play everywhere every day.

The density of computers and their supporting equipment makes going to tech school a very attractive idea to a growing number of people. After all, somebody's got to make sure all those computers keep on humming along smoothly and securely. Why not you?

Tech school is an option as a part of the curriculum in many colleges and universities, where there are often entire departments devoted to the very latest equipment and advances. Graduating from this type tech school may take as long as four years or more and doing so will entail learning a good bit about other subjects required to get a well-rounded academic education.

But a well-rounded academic education isn't all that attractive to every student and, fortunately for them, there is usually a tech school in the same general vicinity as the university that offers technical education without all the reading, writing, and arithmetic.

This sort of tech school is more vocational in nature. It focuses on the basics of the technology so the student can complete the course in a shorter amount of time, often one or two years, and get a job doing what the education trains for.

But don't be surprised when you actually do encounter classes on reading, writing, and arithmetic in tech school. After all, you'll be using your new-found technical skills to earn a living and effective communications and handling money are essential in the business world.

Another reason you'll run into the "three Rs" in tech school is because the board of education for every state and the District of Columbia regulates the coursework of every school of every kind operating within its own borders. To operate legally, a school, even one that offers an online learning environment, must maintain active accreditation based on standardized criteria, including a little bit of academics along with the technology.